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Strategist Diane Garnick has left Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW), the investment bank owned by German insurer Allianz, less than a year after being hired to revamp its portfolio trading business.

Garnick was unavailable for comment and DrKW declined to give the reasons for her departure. However, a source close to the bank said it had not been unexpected, as her “strong marketing style clashed with the bank’s conservative culture”.

After joining the bank, Garnick gave at least 20 interviews, including appearing on US television, where she set out her bearish views on US equities as the market rose.

However, the departure of its chief US strategist is a blow to the bank, which poached her from State Street Global Advisors last April to relaunch its portfolio trading business. This had faltered in the aftermath of the merger between Allianz and Dresdner.

Bharat Patel, former head of portfolio trading at DrKW, left for JP Morgan in May 2002 with most of his team. Market players subsequently expected DrKW to bow out of the sector. However, the bank revived the team last year with 12 hires, including Tim Jardine, known as “Spiderman” in the US because he was one of the first traders of Standard & Poor’s depositary receipts exchange-traded funds.